“KNU is not a brothel”: students in Kyiv take to the streets to protest against Bugrov
This was reported by hromadske.
Protesters held cardboard placards bearing images of Bugrov, on which he was compared to Jeffrey Epstein, and chanted “KNU – not a brothel”, “Bugrov – send him for a psychiatric assessment” and “Listen to the students or leave”. According to media reports, several hundred students gathered for the protest.
Vladimir Bugrov himself told a hromadske journalist that he “respects the students’ right to protest”, but “sees no grounds” for this demonstration. He also said that, in his opinion, the protest was “inspired with the aim of exerting pressure” against the backdrop of the announced rector elections.
The rector also rejected the allegations of corruption. In a comment to hromadske, he referred to the position of his lawyers, who, he said, maintain that they “found nothing against him apart from legally obtained funds and a legally undeclared Volkswagen car”.
What preceded the protest
Back in 2022, correspondence appeared on an anonymous Telegram channel that was publicly linked to Volodymyr Bugrov. These posts referred to allegedly intimate correspondence with students at Kyiv National University, and pornographic photos were also published, which were claimed to have been sent from an account signed ‘Volodymyr Bugrov’.
In March 2026, a new video lasting almost half an hour was circulated online. As reported by hromadske, it contained footage from Lecture Theatre 105 in the Red Building of Kyiv National University, where the Centre for the Study of Ivan Franko’s Creative Heritage is located. The recording captured sexual acts by a man resembling Volodymyr Bugrov. The rector himself denied any involvement in the video in comments to the media and stated that the man in the recording was not him.
Following the emergence of this video, representatives of the KNU Student Parliament inspected Lecture Theatre 105 and stated that they had found “items of an intimate nature” there, which, according to them, also appeared in the video. Subsequently, the student body formally appealed to the rector, demanding an explanation regarding the circumstances surrounding the recording and the use of the university lecture theatre. Separately, the Student Parliament announced an indefinite protest and called on students to gather outside the Red Building on 1 April. The publication
also highlighted another high-profile case in the education sector. On 27 March, the Office of the Prosecutor General announced the exposure of a scheme to embezzle public funds at the Kyiv University of Culture. As part of this investigation, according to law enforcement officials, investigators from the Main Directorate of the National Police, with operational support from the Security Service of Ukraine, carried out over 20 searches at the university premises and at the residences of those involved. The media reported that searches took place, in particular, at the home of former rector Mykhailo Poplavskyi. This concerns a separate criminal case not directly linked to the protest at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
